Though we’ve heard it time and time again, this Hollywood “motto” still seems to ring true. Networking is the buzz word when anyone we’ve met with is asked the question, “How do you get into this business?” As a student who hopes to be successful in the entertainment industry one day, this “networking” thing can be daunting. Paul Mazursky, with whom we met today found his start as an actor in Stanley Kubrick’s first film. From there it was mostly uphill for Mazursky as he found roles acting, and then writing television, until eventually he ended up writing on a feature. This kind of start has been the norm for most of the great people we’ve met since we began our trip. They all seemed to stumble into their current job through connections, working hard, or dumb luck.
As we enter the third week of class many of us are struggling to find interviews with people in our area of interest. Most talent agents I’ve called looking have dismissed me to email and then I’ve been ignored. The only way I found my interview was in fact through extensive networking; my mother’s partner’s mother’s co-worker set me up with an interview with a production designer. How does anyone ever meet with anyone else in this town much less get a job?
I was speaking with a CC grad who came to the recent grad night we held, and he told me his struggles when trying to “break in” to the industry. As if Hollywood is a giant castle on a hill, and the only way in is to know the king, or to break into the dungeons and work your way up. After a couple weeks of no calls, no emails, no nothing, he was pretty ready to throw in the towel on Hollywood. But one day he got a callback for a PA position and he’s had nearly non-stop work since. Once he had “broken in” the rest was taken care of. The networking came naturally as he was pulled from one job to the next by people he had met along the way.
Not everyone can go from building a door to flying the Millennium Falcon, like Harrison Ford. But it seems through a little luck and a good attitude, networking can get anyone into the business. And once you know someone who has made it, they’ll throw the rope out so you can be pulled in next.
